Is making health care insurance mandatory,like car insurance a good better alternative to universal healthcare

Question

Got this as a sugestion on my previous question on the subject.What's your opinion?What are the upsides,downsides?Does it make sense?For refrence I included the link to the question.It's perplexed Bob's answer.
Does that sound like a good idea to you and ifso why do I hear no candidate propose this?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Al8VpXRwLpW.16kII5hMBPrsy6IX?qid=20070605220045AA6EbtY

That's why I ask the question.The prerson seems to suggest as others do that most people without health care just choose that because they're young and healthy,just trying to get a feel how accurate that idea is

Answer 1

No, I don't think it's a good idea at all. For one thing, not everyone can afford to get good health insurance. I think that anyone who would suggest such a thing simply doesn't have a clue.

Answer 2

Nobody has suggested universal health CARE. The issue has always been health INSURANCE. The idea that 'the government' would set up hospitals, clinics and pay doctors and nurses out of the public purse has never even been considered. Health CARE will always be 'private industry'...it's just how private industry will be paid that will change. The folks that rail against 'socialized medicine' somehow keep the idea alive that the 'liberals' want to take over the health establishment and turn it into some kind of government run boondoggle. Nonsense! Insurance is just insurance. Everyone pays in and everyone gets coverage. Universal health insurance is not 'free'. There will always be co-pays and deductables. The difference is that everyone is covered and because the risk is shared out over more people the cost per person is lower. Reactionaries always bring up 'Canada' or some such nonsense. Don't believe it. The only reason we don't have Universal Health Insurance is that the current health insurance industry spends millions to protect their turf. If private insurance could, or would do the job we wouldn't be having this conversation. So, when someone says, 'healthcare', always correct them by reminding them that the question is insurance and it's time that we got that program underway!

Answer 3

The expense arguement for suppliying insurance to evryone is really kind of rediculous. In real life you are already paying for those that are uninsured.
Heres how it works.
John Doe has an illness, John has no health insurance so he doesnt go to a family Doctor because he has no money,

John gets sicker and sicker, eventually John calls 911 and is transported by an ambulance to the ER,

John is treated in the emrgency room, he is given Meds, hes released, after being written a presciption,

John doesnt get the prescription filled because he cant afford it, a few weeks later hes calls 911 and the whole cycle starts over again.

Since John doesnt have the money and the health providers dont get paid.....the cost for the ambulance ride, repeated ER visits, and meds given in the at the ER are folded into the cost to operate the hospital.

Those costs are passed on to the insurance companies whenever someone with insurance is treated.

The insurance companies pass that cost onto your employers in the form of higher premiums.

Those premium increases are then passed on to you in the form of higher co-pays and decreased wages.

You are already paying for the health care of those that are unisured. The difference is that you are paying for those costs in the ERs which is the most expensive point of service,.

Answer 4

No,

Relying on the market to regulate prices has been a failed policy. More Americans have turned to the market in the past 10 years than ever before and we still have double digit inflation and the most expensive health care system in the world.

we do need the market (those seeking health care) to pool their buying power via progressive taxation and partly through individual contribution.

we also need to make some adjustments to reduce demand on the health care industry in the long run.

focus on wellness. get off our fat butts and walk, run. Make health education part of the public school curriculum. Get fast food, soda and unhealthy snacks out of schools

Those that smoke or are overweight must contribute more for insurance.

another solution is to close down the K Street Mafia. Lobbies have caused more harm to this country that terrorism.

Start Big Pharm, Insurance and Trial Lawyers.

Answer 5

Probably not.

Auto insurance is required, because it protects others that you might injure.

The problem with mandatory health insurance is that many people simply cannot afford the premiums. Many live paycheck to paycheck, and have a hard time keeping a roof over their head, and food in the refrigerator. Family coverage (depending on health history), would cost between $500 and $1000 per month. Assuming a person is employed full time (160 hours per month), it would cost $3-$6 per hour. And, these would be after-tax dollars. In other words, assuming the person makes $9 per hour, pays only FICA and 5% combined state and federal income tax, that would leave between $300 and $800 per month for food, utilities, house payment/rent, car insurance and bills.

Even if you doubled the person's income to $18/hour, this would leave only $1,000 - $1,500 per month for house payments/rent, plus food, plus utilities, plus gasoline, etc.

Further, insurance carriers can annually raise premiums based on experience. For example, if you get a serious illness or injury, they can double or triple the premiums. In the case of auto insurance, you can choose to simply not drive (take mass transit, etc.). Under your proposal, you have no such option.

Universal healthcare, however, takes your proposal (mandatory health insurance) a step further. Everyone is in a pool for risk purposes (so the serious illness of one is already considered), and everyone pays a premium (in this case, probably though increased taxes, which is simply a payment for the services.

Wait, you say, the government administer healthcare -- with government waste?

Administrative costs (including advertising) for the health care industry is over 28% of the cost of insurance. For medicare, administrative costs are less than 3%. There would be a substantial reduction through universal health care.

And remember, in point of fact, we already pay for the uninsured. The uninsured disproportionately use emergency rooms as their primary physician, and these are billed (but usually not paid), resulting in higher charges (passed on) to those who DO pay (the insured and self-insured).

Mandatory health care would not work. But universal health care probably would.

As a further aside, the "brain drain" complained of would simply not happen if the US went to universal health care. Right now, the US is the only major industrialized country t hat does not provide universal health care. Thus, doctors from Canada, Europe, etc. flee those country to work here, where they can make more money. If the US did go to Universal Health Care, the physicians would not leave in droves because -- there is no major industrialized country to serve as a destination offering substantially greater wages.

Answer 6

They don't even compare. If you live in New York City you probably don't own a car in which you don't have car insurance. However if you live there you have yourself and can't make it manditory to insure your health. It really does not make sense. And most people don't choose to not have health insurance, they can't afford it. The younger healthier people, do not have families and can afford to take the risk. However if it was offered at a much cheaper rate, they would all take the inusrance. I was young and healthy and insured, again it cost me $4 a month for insurance as well. I almost decided not to have insurance when the rates started to sky rocket like they are now, but then I met my lovely wife and we have a little one, so its not an option for me. Scares me to think that people have to decide on things that matter, like electric bills, car payments, and other bills or do they insure their families well being. That is something the people are having to do, people with families, that is scary. No way can you compare health insurance and car insurance.

Answer 7

I guess first you'd have to ask what you wanted out of mandating healthcare or having universal healthcare.

If you wanted for everyone to have access to healthcare services, they do. Hospitals treat patients regardless of whether or not they have insurance.

If you wanted everyone to have equal access to healthcare services then that will never happen because the wealthy would always be able to buy services that the poor and middle class can not afford. Also, mandating insurance would likely create fines for those who do not have it (as it does for those found not to have auto insurance but still drive) and those who don't have it are likely those who can't afford it.

If what you wanted was more affordable insurance for everyone (and there was a good argument for that made by perplexed Bob) I would be interested to hear how that could be done. Of course it still wouldn't be affordable for everyone because the poorest would still not be able to afford it. What would we do to cover them?

I guess my biggest reason for saying no is how would we mandate this? How would we know if everyone purchased their own health insurance? I mean we'd catch them if they came to the hospital and didn't have it, but that would just keep those who couldn't afford it from going to the hospital and likely dying or becoming more severely afflicted just to avoid being caught.

Answer 8

No, I think this is a horrible idea! Health care insurance has gotten ridiculously high, and people who are already having enough trouble just making their other bills, such as the rent and the electric bill and the phone bill and so forth, cannot afford that extra burden. If the health care industry was not so profit driven, and greedy, then certain compromises might work to the benefit of all. But greed would first have to be taken out of the equation, and then compassion added. *sm*

Answer 9

No. Car insurance is mandatory but only if you drive a car, you can walk, bike, or take public transportation.

You can't opt out of having health. Health insurance is a multibillion $ industry....similar to gas companies. Why are rates sooo high when profits are sooo large?

Universal health care programs work well in many places, such as Canada.

Quite frankly I think it speaks poorly of us as a nation that we have sick and injured people, including elderly and children, who cannot afford a doctor.

Part of the problem with health care expense is that doctors are beign forced to raise their fees due to the enormous amount of malpractice insurance they must carry.

I live in maryland that is a huge problem here (as I am sure is elsewhere). The county I live in has no midwives anyl onger due to that. This includes those that worked as part of a doctors practice. We are losing a lot of surgeons and oncologists too.

If you think you aren't already paying for it you are misktaken. There are social service programs which are paid for by taxes. People without insurance frequent the E.R. and then don't pay....you realize the hospital just turns around and raises its fees for the rest right?

The better thing to do would be instead of states having their own little individual programs, some of which are effective and some not, for a set program to be establised across all the states.

Answer 10

He's confused, we paid more in car insurance in case the other driver was at fault, it was not required then and is not now, because the option still exists. 1 out of 4 drivers is not insured. Insurance companies are about making money. Do you really think they will lower premiums just because we have to buy? I don't have health ins, and I don't want others to pay for it, or work for a company that was forced to get it. Forcing us to have insurance 'is' Unconstitutional.

Answer 11

No, INSURANCE IS EVIL!. INSURANCE IS THE DEVIL INCARNATE!.
Insurance companies are not in business to take care of everybody's health problems. They're in business to get rich.
Adding insurance into the equation adds one more middle man that gets to take some money out of the consumer's pockets. Making it mandatory gives insurance companies a sort of monopoly. Maybe not a true monopoly, but since people wouldn't have a choice about it, insurance companies could set their prices to what they want because making it mandatory just raised demand artificially.
The sane thing to do would be to create medical savings accounts for everybody and have some kind of catastrophic insurance with a high deductible only for major things.

Insurance also causes healthcare to be more expensive because doctors don't have to look the client in the eye when they ask those ridiculous prices.
the answer is NO